Surreal
by kingsmeadroad
Summary: TV Prompt- A particularly difficult case leads the team to a bar, where something changes...


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Criminal Minds related. Characters are merely borrowed and will be put back later. ;)**

**Title: Surreal**

**Prompt: Emily in Wonderland**

*******

_It's like catching lightning the chances of finding someone like you  
It's one in a million, the chances of feeling the way we do  
And with every step together, we just keep on getting better  
So can I have this dance?  
Can I have this dance?_

_HSM3_

*******

What was this? Some sort of dream place, where reality was suspended into silliness and a euphoric sensation of being somebody else overtook? What was she supposed to think? She was willing to step back and pinch herself- if only she could pull her mouth away from his for long enough to do just that.

She was pretty sure- mind you, she could never be fully sure- that she was kissing him. And she was doubly sure that the entire team was fully aware of it, standing nearby and watching.

Breathless and gasping through his strong kisses and his hand on her back, she tried to think back to how it had started.

Surreal.

***

Going to the bar had been a necessity once the case was over. Seven dead children in Arkansas had led them all to despair. They had all seen more than enough dead bodies in their time on the job- but seeing a dead child was something more corrupt than anything else. It was an utter defeat of innocence and a destruction of purity that Emily at least found it hard to deal with. And she knew that JJ felt the exact same way at least. And Morgan, distressed as he was at the memories the case brought back to him, knew that Garcia had truly seen too much in the past seven days and that she was struggling- just like Reid.

Hotch, stoic on the exterior, had called Haley from the plane, sitting opposite Emily. She had heard the entire conversation as Haley refused to let him talk to Jack. And so he had hung up, angry, defeated and saddened. She had asked if he was alright. He had nodded and smiled weakly at her; still disgusted by the call.

And then they had landed, grabbed Garcia, and walked from the BAU together, to the bar they often went to when they had a free night. As soon as she stepped through the door, Emily had taken her coat off and sat down sharply on a seat. She had run out of clothes on that case, and so the last thing she'd had to wear for their return journey to Quantico was a dark pair of skin hugging jeans and her black high heel boots underneath. When she had gotten onto the plane, Morgan had whistled at her and she had shot him down with ease- that short dialogue had given them their first easy laugh in over a week, and it was a welcome break from the darkness that begged for attention inside their heads

After five minutes sitting on the seat in the bar, just as the music got loud and more people flooded through the doors, she stood up and moved for the bar. She was surprised when Hotch, of all people, followed her. She stood at the bar and ordered a brandy, quietly determined to blur the imaged behind her eyes. She turned to face him and shook her head sadly as he ordered a scotch neat. He glanced at her and asked the question she dreaded.

"Are you alright?" he said, so that only she could hear.

"I'm fine. It was just- the last two, we were so close Aaron. Why couldn't we get to them?"

The fact that she'd called him Aaron wasn't lost on him.

"I know. I'm sorry," he said just as sadly.

"It's not your fault," she said, half angry that he would blame himself.

"If I'd led it better..."

"No. You couldn't have led it better. He knew we were onto him. You can't blame yourself for what he did."

He nodded, not reassured, and downed the scotch. They stood at the bar for a good five minutes in silence, watching the team trying to relax. Morgan had forced Garcia into dancing, and he had managed to calm her into a smile as she swirled with him. His attention was solely on her, the other interested women in the bar forgotten and set aside in favour of Penelope, his dancing queen.

Hotch caught himself smiling at the two of them, and noted that Will too had arrived at the bar, obviously having left Henry with a sitter, and was dancing with JJ. It was important to him that the team cooled down and calmed down after a case- especially one of the ones where there was no solid, happy ending. Shaking his head sadly again, replicating her earlier movement, he looked around more and saw Rossi chatting to Reid, the two of them clearing up Reid's problems and supporting each other- something Hotch knew Rossi was very good at.

And that left him and Emily, at the bar, and looking most upset out of anyone else. "Come and dance with me," he said softly. She glanced at him and smiled. "You serious?"

He nodded. "Why not? It seems to be helping them," he said, nodding in the direction of Morgan and Garcia. She shrugged and smiled widely. "Why not?" she said, and took his hand as he led her onto the dance floor.

She noted the looks she got from Morgan and Garcia as she danced past them, her boss's arms clasped around her. She was surprised to find him light on his feet and easygoing on the dance floor. She was able to dance easily with him, their bodies close, a spark of electricity flying between them when they moved against each other. She felt like she belonged there and they soon found themselves smiling at each other, relaxing and calmed slightly, the images behind their eyes leaking away into nothing. He twirled her around and kept her pulled close to him; she felt them get closer and closer, and she enjoyed that closeness- though he was never the one she would have expected to provide that needed warmth. She knew and accepted that her hips were grinding against his- but she couldn't stop herself. It simply seemed right and felt right.

The song ended and she found herself caught in his arms, tied even closer to him, as a slower music came on. She felt the cliché coming, knew it was there, but chose to ignore it. She didn't notice JJ pointing them out to Rossi and Reid, and she sure as hell didn't notice the fact that JJ Rossi and Reid were not the only ones talking. Morgan and Garcia had left the dance floor and were gazing open mouthed at the sight before them.

For his part, Hotch was completely lost in her presence. She was fun, strong and outgoing, good at her job and an integral part of the team. He had realised in recent times that he actually depended on her for a sense of stability. And he had asked her to dance expecting to stop after a minute or so in embarrassment. But instead he had found himself pressing her on- and she wasn't stopping him.

And there was no point in pretending that he hadn't noticed the jeans clinging to her hips and legs when she got on the plane. He had chuckled as she beat Morgan back and now he could almost sense the denim just inches from where his hands were. The slow song went on, and without thinking about it, she had stretched her arms around his neck and rested her head against his shoulder, inhaling softly and feeling safe, protected, sheltered from harm.

And then his hands moved too, one of them across her back and one of them down her body, his fingers calmly pressing against the side of her thigh, feeling the firm muscle under the denim he had longed to touch. She pulled her head back up and glanced at his eyes, finally deciding to take her chance.

So she kissed him. She had been surprised when he responded so readily.

***

And so there she was, having thought the whole thing through in her head again. And still she was kissing him, only by now his fingers had found their way just underneath her shirt, resting against her warm skin, a tender action that she appreciated for some reason. His hand on the small of her back kept her close to him- which was exactly where he wanted her, exactly where she wanted to be at right that moment.

Minutes before, her mouth had slipped open, allowing his tongue to find hers, deepening their kiss into something that she would remember for a long time. And even when she realised that a new song had started and almost finished, and she was still kissing his lips, her fingers tickling his neck as she found herself pulling gently at his shirt collar slightly. Their kisses lessened into small pecks, small moments between them that kept them relaxed and content.

And all the while, the team looked on, pleasantly surprised and smiling.

And then they separated and stood, arms still around each other, on the dance floor, still moving slightly to the music. Neither of them said anything. Emily's lips were slightly swollen and red, and her face was flushed slightly.

When they opened their eyes and just looked at each other, the team catcalled and clapped, applauded them and whistled. Smiling, biting her lip, Emily looked at them standing together about ten feet away, embarrassed but not ashamed of what she had done. She wasn't sure what to do next, but then he fixed what might have become an awkwardness.

He leaned over and kissed her lips again, smiling at her and leaning his cheek against hers to half whisper a "thank you," into her ear before pressing his lips against hers again, closing his arms definitively around her body.

The team broke into new applause, laughter and jokes- the entire bar seemed focused on them and the DJ, noticing the commotion, focused a spotlight on them in the middle of the dance floor.

And she could do nothing but kiss him back, relaxing into his arms, smiling through their kisses, cheeks flushed at the clapping and mocking, but satisfied nonetheless.

It suited her. He suited her.

Surreal.


End file.
